Mehboba Ahdyar, the only female athlete from Afghanistan to take part in the Beijing Olympics went missing from a training camp in Italy. She is believed to be seeking asylum in Norway.

Mehboba Ahdyar, a 19-year-old runner from war torn Afghanistan had become the poster girl of Olympic movement after she decided to participate in the 800 and 1500m events in Beijing. She was undergoing a training on an IOC scholarship program in a facility at Formia in Italy. She had disappeared from the training camp last week

Although she received wide respect in International media, she was receiving constant death threats from Islamic extremists. Last year, when Western journalists came to interview her, her neighbours in Kabul had called police telling that she was a prostitute. After her sudden disappearance from the training camp, it was widely believed that she is being kidnapped by extremists.

Those fears got eased after British daily 'Times' reported that she is en route to Norway to seek political asylum. International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau also confirmed the news.

We don't have any official information. We only know that she might be seeking asylum in Norway.

However, her family back in Afghanistan is facing threats from the Afghan Olympic Committee.Her parents are told that unless they get their daughter back into spikes they will have to face imprisonment.